


Christmas Eve

by Princesszellie



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Incest, M/M, Tumblr:hansencestadvent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2014-12-05
Packaged: 2018-02-28 05:07:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2719802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princesszellie/pseuds/Princesszellie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Holidays are hard on everyone, even world saving heros. It's easy to forget the old traditions but Herc and Chuck find their own little way to remember.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Eve

It was late, and Herc was surprised Chuck was still in the shower. Maybe it wasn’t as weird as it seemed given that their normal, perfectly orchestrated routine was all shot to hell.

Time off and Hansen’s never really went well. For instance today they had sat aimlessly around their quarters getting on each other’s nerves, which was not at all productive. Especially as it was Christmas Eve. Why the Brass had thought that one, that they cared it was a holiday; and two, thought they would want time to spend not doing anything while the world stood on the brink of burning, was beyond his reasoning.

The water stopped and Max who was guarding the bathroom door wiggled excitedly. It would be about another ten minutes before his beloved boy appeared, but Max wasn’t much of a time keeper.

Herc went back to scrolling through his tablet aimlessly. Holidays were always tense for them, and he certainly didn’t need to live inside his son’s head to know all the reasons why. He had considered going out with some of the others, pub crawling or such, but in the end that hadn’t felt right either. So he had stayed in with his emotionally compromised teenager and overweight bulldog. Merry fucking Christmas. And it wasn’t even like he was going to get _that_.

Chuck finally made his appearance, toweling his hair vigorously and not making eye contact. He knew that Dad knew he had been crying; there really was no reason to hide the evidence. After birthdays, Christmas was the _worst_. He hated it.

Herc ignored him while he dressed, still obviously hanging out under his angst cloud. It was probably best to just stay quiet and let the boy go to sleep- Herc didn’t relish another meaningless blow out.

So it was a bit of a shock when wordlessly Chuck crawled onto the bunk beside him and wormed his way into his arms. Herc looked down at him over the rim of his glasses and waited for the boy to settle.

Chuck finally came to rest with his arms and legs wrapped around the warm solid mass that was his Father and his face burred deep into his neck. He didn’t even mind the scratch of the two-day-time-off -stubble, he just wanted to be close.

“Well hello there….” Herc mumbled, pulling the covers back up around both of them. He felt Chuck’s warm breath against his throat as he rearranged himself despite the clinging.

It was quiet for several heart beats, “Read to me.” Chuck whispered into Herc’s skin.

“What?” Herc asked stupidly, he knew what he _thought_ he heard...but that didn’t make sense.

“Read to me….” Chuck repeated, this time a bit more coherently.

Okay yeah, that’s what he thought. Alright then, “Anything in particular?”

Chuck shook his head no and let himself relax for the first time all day. Herc thumbed through all the books he had half started, but none of them appealed. It was obvious he was not a dedicated reader, and nothing he had started and now forgotten would appeal to Chuck at all. In fact, most looked so uninteresting he didn’t know why he had downloaded them in the first place.

This was hard; Chuck was much too analytical and cynical for the usual teen fic scene. That kind of whimsy had died long ago. Fantasy wasn’t fun when your life was horrible science fiction; Herc totally understood.

He was about to give up and press Chuck for a suggestion when he saw it. Perfect.

Chuck was half asleep already, but the deep rumble of Herc clearing his throat snapped him back to semi-consciousness. He still had his eyes closed, so he missed his Father’s smirk.

“ _'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse_.”

There was a soft snort from his audience, “Really Dad?”

“Hey, you said you didn’t care….” Herc reminded him, “…. _The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there_.”

He continued reading the poem with a small smile on his face. It wasn’t the same as reading to a tiny Charlie from the brightly illustrated book while sitting by the Christmas tree, all those things were gone now, but it was still good. Herc ran his fingers softly through his son’s hair as he read, enjoying their closeness after so much angst and bickering.

Drifting in and out of sleep Chuck listened to the low rumble in Herc’s chest, “ _With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles, his coursers they came, and he whistled and shouted and called them by name…”_ This was always his favorite part, he wondered sleepily if Dad would do the voice. He was not disappointed as Herc read off the reindeer’s name in his ‘Santa’ voice. For some reason it was just as novel as when he was six.

Herc felt Chuck’s little twitter of delight and paused to press a kiss to the top of his head. “ _And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof the prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head and was turning around, down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound._ ”

Now he was in the rhythm of it, in rare form considering he couldn’t remember the last time he had read aloud to his now teenaged son. Whatever had possessed Chuck to ask for this was weird beyond belief but he was glad for it.

By the time they neared the end of the poem Chuck’s breathing was deep and slow; maybe he was still that six year old who couldn’t stay awake after nine p.m. “ _He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight, ‘Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!’_ ”

Carefully so as to not disturb his sleeping angel, Herc put the tablet aside and killed the lights. He wrapped his arms tighter around Chuck and let their body’s sync up. Chuck nuzzled his cheek gently and kissed him. “Love you Dad.” he whispered.

“I love you too baby.” Herc tipped Chuck’s chin up and kissed him softly. “Merry Christmas.” Chuck just smiled against his lips and purred.

For whatever reason _Silent Night_ started tracking through Herc’s sleep softened brain and, via the drift, into Chuck’s as well. Christmas would never be how it was before the Kaiju came and ruined their lives, but they could still honor it in their own quiet ways.

**Author's Note:**

> Little fluff piece written for the Hansencest Advent Calendar on Tumblr. 
> 
> Oringal post can be found here:  
> http://hansencestadvent.tumblr.com/post/104174531657/day-two
> 
> The calendar is an awesome collection of works by awesome people! So glad I got to participate this year. <3


End file.
